The Art Institute of Chicago
- Museum works viewable online jumped from 100 to 2,600
- Streamlined administration of Museum events
- Users accessing more information faster
- Winner of a W3 Silver Award from the International Academy of the Visual Arts
On the fast-moving Web, sometimes the cart needs to go before the horse. Before the Art Institute of Chicago was able to complete its search for a new content management system (CMS) for its Museum and School, it needed an entirely new look for its Museum Web site, whose design hadn’t changed in almost a decade. Palantir, in collaboration with design partner Studio Blue, introduced color to the Museum site, beefed up the use of photography, and streamlined and better organized the content.
During the pre-CMS transition period, Palantir built the site using static HTML templates to ease maintenance tasks and prep components for conversion. After the Art Institute made its CMS selection — Serena Collage, a powerful platform used by many higher education institutions — Palantir assisted the Museum with the CMS implementation by integrating the static site into Collage. The custom code was kept separate from the design templates, allowing the Museum staff the flexibility to update or change the content or design as needed.
On the new site, rotating images from the Museum’s collection grace the department pages and a robust search interface allows visitors to explore the Museum’s entire collection by keyword or artist. Type “Magritte” in the Collection search box and up come three works by the 20th-century Belgian artist. The old site displayed about 100 images of Museum holdings. The new site, which contained 700 works at launch, is now up to 2,600 images — and counting. The Museum’s ultimate goal is to display 10,000 images from its vast collection — a treasure trove accessible to art lovers worldwide. A calendar module powers the site’s event teasers and promotes the wide range of activities provided to Museum members and the community.
Given the elegance, functionality, and freshness of the new Museum site, one would assume a large army is constantly at work behind the scenes. Instead, the site is updated just a few times a quarter by a handful of staff using clever, customized tools that work seamlessly with Collage. The impact of the Museum site is far out of proportion to the effort involved — an artistic triumph of a different sort.